The invention is in the field of alphanumeric keyboards. More particularly, the invention relates to the ability to enter letters on a phone keyboard by using two keys for each letter.
With the advent of the information age, composing text with the keys of telecommunication devices has become commonplace. For example, consumers are frequently called upon to spell out words using the keys of a phone pad. Entering text with phones has proven to be awkward, since there are many more letters (26 in the English alphabet) than keys on a standard phone keyboard (generally 12). This necessitates that more than one key be chosen to specify a single letter, thereby resulting in a relatively low text entry rate. The small size of the typical cell phone presents further special challenges, since both the size of the text input area and the number of any additional keys on the cell phone may be limited. While graphical keyboards with alternative key layouts are becoming more popular, the learning curve associated with their text input language can be steep.
FIG. 1 shows a phone layout 20 that includes 12 different keys designated by the numeral 24, which are arranged in 4 (horizontal) rows and 3 (vertical) columns. Ten of the keys 24 have a numeral (0, 1, 2, . . . 9) thereon, denoted by the numeral 28. In addition, the letters (denoted by the numeral 32) of the English alphabet, along with special symbols 36 (* and #), are displayed among the keys 24. The 26 letters of the English alphabet are distributed in alphabetically arranged groups among the numeral-bearing keys 2-9, with each of these groups including at least 3 letters. (The letters S and Z are conventionally assigned to the keys 7 and 9, respectively, although other configurations can be used, e.g., these letters may be displayed on the key 1.) Thus, the letters A, B, and C are assigned to the key 2, the letters D, E, and F are assigned to the key 3, and so on. While the conventional layout shown is not necessarily optimal for the purpose of text input, this layout and ones similar to it have nevertheless become the de facto phone layout standards, and are thus the layouts to which text entry methods and apparatuses conform. (Although the keys 24 shown in FIG. 1 are common to almost all phones, many cell phones include additional keys and switches for which there may be no common standard.)
In order to use one of the standard phone key layouts for text entry, it is necessary to use a technique that distinguishes or xe2x80x9cdisambiguatesxe2x80x9d which letter 32 on a given key 24 is the intended one, since a group of letters is generally assigned to a single key. One way of doing this is to algorithmically disambiguate letters with an electronic dictionary of common words (the so-called T-9 technique). In this technique, only one key is tapped for each letter, and a microprocessor or computer in communication with the keypad checks the dictionary to resolve any ambiguity. For example, entering the key sequence 9-WXYZ, 6-MNO, 7-PQRS, 5-JKL, 3-DEF, in that order, would result in the word xe2x80x9cWORLDxe2x80x9d. However, this method requires a dictionary that may not contain special words (such as people and place names). Additionally, short words consisting of three or four letters can be difficult to disambiguate. Thus, entering the key sequence 4-GHI, 2-ABC, 6-MNO, 3-DEF could correspond to either the word xe2x80x9cGAMExe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cHANDxe2x80x9d. Accordingly, this method may require that the user pay close attention to the text as it is being generated and make any necessary corrections as he or she proceeds, thereby slowing the text entry rate.
Another disambiguation technique is the so-called multi-tap technique. In this technique, the number of taps on a given key specifies the desired letter by the ordering of the letters within the group of letters on the key being tapped. For example, tapping the key 2-abc just once produces the letter A, tapping this key twice produces the letter B, and tapping it three times produces the letter C. Since the number of taps varies from letter to letter, however, some users find this approach counterintuitive and unsatisfactory.
In a two-key sequence method, the user presses two keys consecutively to uniquely determine a letter or symbol. As discussed by M. Silfverberg et al., (xe2x80x9cpredicting text entry speed on mobile phonesxe2x80x9d, Chi 2000, Apr. 1-6, 2000), the keys 1, 2, 3, and 4 can be used to disambiguate the intended letter on a key. For example, 7-PQRS followed by 1 corresponds to the letter P; 7-PQRS followed by the key 2 corresponds to the letter Q; 7-PQRS followed by the key 3 corresponds to the letter R; and 7-PQRS followed by the key 4 corresponds to the letter S. In another two-key sequence method taught by Burrell in U.S. Pat. No. 6,043,761, the keys *, 0, # are used to specify the intended letter within a group of letters. Thus, the letter J is input as 5*, the letter K as 50, and the letter L as 5#. Although these two-key sequence methods are conceptually straightforward, users may be frustrated that some of the two-key sequences involve keys at opposite ends of the keypad, which can result in a slow text entry rate.
Thus, there remains a need for a simple, time-efficient, easy-to-learn text entry method tailored to a standard key layout.
Methods and apparatuses are disclosed herein that involve two-keys per character text entry, in which two keys in a single row (or column) are used to specify each letter.
In one implementation of the invention, there is provided a method of selecting letters with a keyboard that is interfaced with an electronic component. The method includes providing a keyboard that includes a first, a second, and a third row of keys (in that order), with the rows being oriented along a first dimension, in which each of the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 is displayed on a respective key. The first row includes three keys displaying the numerals 1, 2, and 3, respectively, in that order; the second row includes three keys displaying the numerals 4, 5, and 6, respectively, in that order; and the third row includes three keys displaying the numerals 7, 8, and 9, respectively, in that order. The key displaying the numeral 5 further displays a first language character, a second language character, and a third language character, and other the numeral-displaying keys each further display at least three language characters. The method further includes inputting the first character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 4 key; inputting the second character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 5 key again; and inputting the third character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 6 key. In a preferred implementation, other language characters are input into the electronic component using similar methodology, and the language characters are letters of the English alphabet.
In another implementation of the invention, there is provided a method of selecting letters with a keyboard that is interfaced with an electronic component. The method includes providing a keyboard that includes a first, a second, and a third row of keys (in that order), with the rows being oriented along a first dimension, and in which each of the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 is displayed on a respective key. The first row includes three keys displaying the numerals 1, 2, and 3, respectively, in that order; the second row includes three keys displaying the numerals 4, 5, and 6, respectively, in that order; and the third row includes three keys displaying the numerals 7, 8, and 9, respectively, in that order. The key displaying the numeral 5 further displays a first language character, a second language character, and a third language character, and other ones of the numeral-displaying keys each further display at least three language characters. The method further includes inputting the first character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 2 key; inputting the second character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 5 key again; and inputting the third character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 8 key. In a preferred implementation, other language characters are input into the electronic component using similar methodology, and the language characters are letters of the English alphabet.
In one implementation of the invention, there is provided a method of selecting letters with a keyboard. The method includes providing a keyboard interfaced with an electronic component, with the keyboard including respective keys for displaying the numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Nine of these numeral-displaying keys are arranged in a 3xc3x973 matrix of keys including first, second, and third rows (in that order) oriented along a first direction, and first, second, and third rows (in that order) oriented along a second direction. Each of the rows includes 3 keys, and each of 8 of the keys in the matrix displays thereon a group of at least three letters arranged alphabetically and occupying sequential first, second, and third spatial positions, respectively, along the first direction. This permits the first, second, and third letter positions to be associated with the first, second, and third rows oriented along the second direction, respectively. The method includes inputting a chosen letter into the electronic component by making two key selections, in which the key selected first is the key on which the chosen letter is displayed. The key selected second and the key on which the chosen letter is displayed share a common row oriented along the first direction, and the key selected second is located in that row oriented along the second direction that is associated with the position occupied by the chosen letter on its corresponding key. This two-key input approach is repeated for letters chosen from keys in at least 2 of the rows oriented along the first direction and letters chosen from keys in at least 2 of the rows oriented along the second direction.
One embodiment of the invention is an apparatus for selecting letters, in which the apparatus includes a keyboard. The keyboard includes respective keys for displaying the numerals 0 through 9 inclusive, in which 9 of the numeral-displaying keys are arranged in a 3xc3x973 matrix of rows including first, second, and third rows arranged sequentially along a first direction and first, second, and third rows arranged sequentially along a second direction. Each of 8 of the keys in the matrix have displayed thereon a group of three letters arranged alphabetically that occupy sequential first, second, and third positions, respectively, along the first direction. The apparatus further includes an electronic device in communication with the keyboard, in which the device registers which keys on the keyboard are selected and includes instructions for converting sequences of two keys into letters. For certain letters displayed on keys in at least two of the rows along the first direction and for certain letters displayed on keys in at least two of the rows along the second direction, key sequences for a desired letter are given by a first key followed by a second key, in which the first key is given by that key on which the desired letter is displayed. The second key is given by that key formed by the intersection of two rows, wherein one of the two intersecting rows corresponds to that row oriented along the first direction that includes the key displaying the desired letter, and the other of the two intersecting rows corresponds to that row oriented along the second direction that bears the same sequential position as the position of the desired letter on its corresponding key.
There is further provided computer program products comprising computer readable media, in which the media include machine-readable instructions for carrying out the methods described herein.